Markets in Asia Pacific were mixed on Thursday, with energy plays in the region under pressure after oil prices extended their losing streak during the U.S. session.
The Nikkei 225 Index let go of 55.42 points, or 0.3%, to 17,336.42.
Meanwhile, the yen remained at the 104 handle against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, trading at 104.60 in the afternoon local time.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 193.08 points, or 0.8%, on top of Wednesday’s near-240-point drop, to 23,123.35
Oil stocks in the region finished mostly lower. Australia energy shares declined, with Santos shares down 2%, Oil Search was off by 2.4% and Woodside Petroleum lost 1.5%
In Japan, shares of Fuji Oil fell 0.9% and Japan Petroleum dropped 0.1% South Korea's S-Oil declined 1.1%. Hong Kong-listed shares of CNOOC dropped 3.2%, while Petrochina fell 2.5%in late-afternoon trade.
Bucking the downward trend were shares of Inpex, which finished up 0.7%.
On the earnings front, South Korean electronics giant Samsung posted a third-quarter operating profit of 5.2 trillion won ($4.5 billion U.S.), which was down almost 30% on-year but was in line with expectations.
Samsung's mobile revenue showed a 96% on-year decline, coming in at 100 billion won, following a massive recall and eventual discontinuation of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone line. The tech company previously said it expected an operating profit hit of more than $5 billion over the second half of 2016 and the January-March quarter of 2017 due to the Note 7 debacle.
Samsung shares climbed 0.4% to 1,573,000 won a share.
Australian markets plunged, with most sectors finishing lower. The energy sector finished down 1.8%, while the materials sector declined 2.1% and the heavily-weighted financials sector was down 0.7%.
The National Australia Bank (NAB), one of the country's so-called Big Four banks, posted a 4% on-year increase in cash earnings to 6.48 billion Australian dollars ($4.95 billion U.S.) for its fiscal 2016 full year.
The bank said its statutory net profit of A$352 million, which dropped 94.4% on-year, was dragged lower by losses on sale of both the U.K.-based Clydesdale Bank and 80% of NAB Wealth's life insurance business. NAB maintained its final dividend of A$0.99.
NAB shares closed up 0.5% while shares of other big banks declined; ANZ was down 0.6%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipped 1.6% and Westpac was lower by 0.7%
The Australian dollar retreated to around $0.7617 U.S. from levels near $0.770 it reached in the Wednesday session following better-than-expected inflation numbers
In other markets
The CSI 300 dropped 9.1 points, or 0.3%, to 3,345.70
In Korea, the Kospi gained 10.23 points, or 0.5%, to 2,024.12
The Straits Times Index in Singapore eked out a gain of 0.37 points to 2,828.94
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index slumped 62.7 points, or 0.7%, to 9,299.55
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 regained 45.75 points, or 0.7%, to 6,941.95
In Australia, the ASX 200 fell 64.25 points, or 1.2%, to 5,295.55
